Thunderstorm Wind — Gilmer, West Virginia

2023-07-28 · near Dusk, Gilmer, West Virginia

Event narrative

Multiple trees and power lines were blown down in the area of Toler Run Road and Dusk Camp Run Road in Sand Fork. Lightning also struck a power pole and damaged a transformer.

Wider weather episode

The final few days of July featured very hot and muggy weather across West Virginia. During peak heating hours, the atmosphere became conducive for afternoon showers and thunderstorms. Mainly isolated storm reports occurred on July 27th and 29th, while widespread damage took place on the 28th.

On that particular day, hot temperatures and ample low level moisture yielded a convective line of activity across Ohio and Kentucky that eventually crossed into West Virginia. Strong winds accompanying the line resulted in a swath of downed trees and power lines starting in Wood County shortly before 3 PM and then spreading eastward through the bulk of central and southeastern West Virginia.

At the Charleston Yeager International Airport, a 62 mile per hour wind gust was measured. Around that time, multiple areas of downed trees and power lines were observed in and around downtown Charleston. Storms eventually crossed out of the forecast area by the early evening.

While damaging wind gusts were the main issues during this stretch of unsettled weather, there was one instance of flash flooding on July 27th from activity passing over the western portions of Kanawha County. This led to high water reports in a few spots in and around Cross Lanes.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (38.8600, -80.7500)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1114559. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.